Notes on INK




INK, Megaron-Athens, 2023, January 12th, World Premiere
© Mehmet Kerem Özel


15 January 2023, on the plane, on the way back to istanbul 

there are two worlds: one lived inside, the other projected outwards. the first is at the level of the stomach; full of water, turbulent, whirling, swirling, emotional, sensual; naturalness, sexuality reside here, this is where man is born. the second is at the level of the head; the mind, thoughts, lights scattered around... the old man on the stage, in black trousers and a black shirt with rolled up sleeves, has these two worlds... 

in the first moment, the old man suddenly grabs an octopus from the ground, pulls it out, tames its flesh by beating it, bites off a piece, eats it, then sits down on a chair and rests... at that moment, the fountain moves in a certain radius from the level of the man's head and sprays water, the water hitting the curtain behind him... 
the hunt for octopus is a very greek phenomenon, it's something that all greeks do, not necessarily cooks; they catch it from the sea, hit it on the rocks on the beach, soften the meat and eat it... 
but the image of the octopus is not limited to this scene, it is a recurring and frequently used image throughout the piece: the octopus on the penis... the octopus with the head of a boy... 

one of the objects the old man uses on stage throughout the show: a transparent ball half filled with water. at the beginning, the floor of the stage is transparent. a creature is crawling under the floor; naked, white. is this creature the octopus? is the watery stage space with cylindrical surfaces the sphere filled with water?

a naked, white boy and a dressed, black old man. 
papaioannou's "twos" reach their climax in "primal matter"... he even has a show called "2"... 
the two play on a stage with the water-filled transparent ball; first mutually, then competitively, then together/on the same side/sharing. 
is one the other's youth... do they share the innocence of childhood... is the octopus that the old man catches and eats actually his own childhood, his own innocence? is the old man killing the child inside him, or is he eating his own childhood; eating your own child is actually eating yourself... 
are you eating your own offspring because you want to share something of your past, of your innocence... or are you eating your own offspring in order to go back to your childhood... but of course that's impossible; isn't that the sad thing, that no matter how much you want to, you can't go back, you can't turn back time... 

the record the old man put on the turntable and played... the scratching when it was over... the longing... 

"l'après-midi d'un faune"; wheat, breeding, the smell of sperm, the body warmed by the sun, writhing like a snake in lust, self-gratification...

red 
is the old man a circus manager... 
ropes, oriental music... 
are we watching a "freak show"... 

the baby in the lantern, eating its head, the horror, the immersion in pleasure, being lost in pleasure... 

falling out of the air and shattering; is it the spirit that is shattered...

small creatures fluttering; are they fish or the first creatures from the depths of the ocean... 
the white boy brings them; are they his children or his sperm... they become immobile in time when they come into contact with the air... 
the old man eats one first, then the boy; they even bite in the same place, side by side... 

black tape, red water pipes, black table, black stool, transparent ball, disco ball... 

the old man puts the ropes on the board and pulls the boy when he is unconscious... then he lassoes him and pulls him when he is sober... 

white wraps black around the transparent panel, the tamed one rebels and does to the other what he did to him...

behind the curtain, the disco ball shines, he opens the curtain, lets it in, it shimmers inside, its sparkles fall from inside on the curtain... the old man hangs the ball first, then the boy. while the boy is hanging, the old man is tense, they turn around and around... 

waltz music; a dance for two... 
the old man fills a transparent ball with water and pours it into the boy's mouth in a handstand, then he puts the ball between the boy's buttocks and gets under the boy, this time the old man drinks the water flowing from the ball between the old man's buttocks, then they lie on their backs unconscious for a while as if in the afterglow of lovemaking... an exquisite scene! 

running on the table, first on all fours, then gradually accelerating, with sure steps. 
it's like a tunnel in time travel: we pull back and go back to the beginning, to innocence, to the zero point... to that moment of taming...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"since she"/pina died: "seit sie" by papaioannou

Image
(photo: julien mommert) once again i'm in wuppertal, in the barmen opera. i'm tremendously excited; for me pina bausch is on the same level as divinities not just in the field of performing arts but that of art in general, and in a little while i'll watch a piece performed by her company tanztheater wuppertal directed by dimitris papaioannou who follows pina in my ranking of divinities.  the piece has already been named: "seit sie". it can be translated into english as "since she". it is likely that "she" refers to pina; so the title could easily be formulated as "since the absence of pina / since pina passed away". (photo: mehmet kerem özel, 19th may 2017) during the first evening my seat is in the middle of the first row on the balcony. as soon as the doors of the auditorium are opened I go to my seat.  the colour of the stage is anthracite. at the back are a pile of plates stacked on top of each other, in time i
Read more

Dance days in Athens

Image
©  Mehmet Kerem Özel, 24.02.2024 - Onassis Stegi, Athens On a late February Saturday afternoon, an early harbinger of spring in Athens, I spent five hours in the sterile foyer of the Onassis Stegi building, shuttling between floors -1 and +5, experiencing five performances from the 2024 edition of ODD - Onassis Dance Days, which was organized by the Onassis Foundation for the 11th time. This contemporary dance festival, which usually lasts for about 10 days, but focuses on a three-day period from the first Friday to Sunday, includes new pieces by Greek choreographers and at least one piece by a choreographer from outside Greece. Last year, Marina Otero, an up-and-coming Argentinian choreographer, was a guest at the festival. She presented her pieces, FUCK ME and LOVE ME . This year, the Belgian visual artist Miet Warlop, who gained much attention with her new piece One Song since its premiere at the Avignon Festival two years ago, performed in front of the Greek audience and left a l
Read more

An étude on the primal matter of hu"man"kind

Image
Dimitris Papaioannou had opened Istanbul Theater Festival with “Medea” in 2000, however I could not attend “Medea” at that time. And long after I admiringly watched the opening ceremony of 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, I learnt that it was Papaioannou who designed and staged it. As a person who watched all opening and closing ceremonies since 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, I can say that 2004 opening ceremony in Athens was the most creative one, followed by 1992 Barcelona ceremony designed by La Fura Dels Baus. Papaioannou's work was a contemporary work of art deriving its inspiration entirely from the past and culture of its territory and which managed to be universal without being folkloric like 1996 Seoul or pop like 2012 London ceremonies. I continued to follow the works of Papaioannou from the videos he shared on the internet which contained some parts of his works, DVD record of his work called “2” and finally from opening ceremony of 2014 Baku Olympics. That ceremony als
Read more